Common phrases college students toss around during their time spent on campus are “freshman 15”, “syllabus week”, or “rape culture”. Culture is understood to be something that people engage in together as a society. Rape culture is when people of a society excuse or tolerate sexual violence. It is when sexual assault, rape, and harassment are ignored, belittled, normalized, or made into jokes. Rape Culture is when pop music tells women “you know you want it” because of these “blurred lines” (Thicke), when society supports athletes who are charged with rape and then calling their victims career-destroyers, when companies create advertisements using women in order to promote business, when people believe that girls allow themselves to be raped, …show more content…
He is found not responsible on all four accounts. “The investigators find that [he] may have interpreted [her] actions as consent,” was what had been stated in the report. Cassie’s actions, her silence and passivity, her frozen trauma state, may have been interpreted as consent. Yet, included in the very same email she received was an attachment to the University’s detailed Policies and Procedures on “Harassment, Discrimination, Sexual and Relationship Misconduct”. Here in this document under the section of effective consent are two lines: “Consent cannot be implied through acceptance of an invitation,” and, “Silence and passivity cannot be interpreted as an indication of consent” (Harassment). Implied. Interpreted. Yet, these are the exact grounds on which the Office of Equity and Inclusion based their decision. Not to mention, Cassie never said a single “yes” to anything and was never actively engaged with anything going on. To the Office of Equity and Inclusion at Creighton University, her no’s meant nothing. Cassie decided to write an …show more content…
Rape culture extends across the globe. In 2012, a group of men gang-raped a young woman and assaulted her friend aboard a moving bus in New Delhi, India. The crime was horrific. And yet, there were some within the country who chose to blame the victims instead of the perpetrators. Asaram Bapu, a self-realized saint from India with approximately 40 million disciples said, “The victim’s daughter is as guilty as her rapists…She should have called the culprits brothers and begged before them to stop…This could have saved her dignity and life. Can you clap with one hand? I don’t think so” (Herald). Then in 1995, during the Bosnian War and the Bosnian genocide, the violence assumed a gender-targeted form through the use of rape. It is estimated that 50,000 women were raped. A year prior during the Rwandan genocide, known as the 100-day genocide, it is estimated that 500,000 women were raped. During the times when these genocides were taking place, rape and sexual violence was seen as just another part of war, but not seen as a crime. Thousands and thousands of women were raped and will never obtain the justice they deserve for their perpetrators’
In the article “Athletic club weekend turns into a nightmare for college freshman” by Carol smith and Lee Van Der Voo, Emily Lorenzen shares her story of being a rape victim. Emily shares her account because she wants to help to prevent rape from happening to anyone else. After interviewing Emily the authors shared a statement expressing that “Emily lorenzen believes that if people hear her story, they will be more comfortable confronting the issue of sexual assault on campus. She wants more conversation, so that men get a clearer definition of rape, face stiffer penalties if they ignore it and administrators learn to reach out to women like her and show compassion. She especially wants bystanders to step up and protect people who are vulnerable.” Rape victims need support to not feel guilty or ashamed, and that is exactly what Emily and her father desire. On this topic, Shipman an influential contributor of the Spokane sexual assault
Sexual assault is sexual activity of any kind that does not involve the other person’s consent. Sexual assault includes rape, forced sodomy, forced oral sex, and any form of unwanted sexual touching. Most common types of sexual assault are mostly affiliated with the drugs of roofies or GHB being slipped into a drink. This often appears to happen at college parties. According to research, “the typical scenario of sexual assault on college campus includes the woman’s drinking at a party and playing drinking games, a situation where she has been given a drink in which the alcohol has been disguised as punch” (Bohmer, Parrot 20). Popular culture depicts college as a place for free booze and sexual conquests, as sensationalized by popular movies like “Project X” and “22nd Jump Street.” Consequently, the public medium portray partying and binge-drinking as the typical college and teenage social norm. Oftentimes, college is the first opportunity for young individuals to live away from home. For many, college is a time of sexual freedom, exploration, and experimentation. According to Julie E. Samuels from
During the Rwandan genocide, some rapes occurred recurrently throughout a timespan. “Sexual enslavements occurred when a woman was detained, typically in the house of an Interhamwe, and subjected to repeated sexual assaults over a period of days,” (Mullins 727). These kinds of rapes belong in their own category because of the added element of confinement and intent to continually rape and therefore, harm. An Interhamwe soldier named Rafiki, personally sought out one Tutsi woman whom he had
A typical teen, fresh into adulthood has just graduated high school. At this point in their life, they must choose how they want to proceed forward, their life is no longer necessarily decided upon by their parents. A majority of recent high school graduates typically decide to further their education, whether this may be to achieve the career goal they most desire, or if maybe they just want to be able to say that recieved a degree. These next four or more years they will experience all sorts of new things, they may make new friends, go out to parties, and most likely have lots of fun. However in today’s society, going off to a college campus could end up being their worst nightmare. According to the article “Campus Sexual Violence Statistics”, “Women ages 18-24 are at an elevated risk of sexual violence” (RAINN 1). By this statistic, college aged women are at a higher risk for some form of sexual violence. Campus sexual assault is so universal because the justice system does not treat sexual assault as seriously as they should, a large amount of sexual assaults are left unreported, and sexual assault cases are very difficult to prove.
Structural humiliation is a theory that suggests that an underlying cause of crime, particularly white collar crime, is the inherently unequal nature of modern society (Schlegel & Weisburd, 1992). Structural humiliation builds upon historical patterns of oppression and translates these habits into modern day behavior; though we, as a society, may reject these principles through our laws or morals, groups that traditionally have less social standing and political power may always be targeted (LeClair, 2016). Structural humiliation helps to explain and describe why respected people in powerful positions may be empowered to prey upon people in societally marginalized positions (Schlegel & Weisburd, 1992). The collection of film clips provided
I believe this is transmitted through culture and society. Additionally, there are so many people who believe women are incapable or undeserving of equality,respect, the right to express her opinion. Sadly many times women are viewed as objects that promote sex in videos, advertising, and movies. Despite this, if certain women choose to play roles that perpetuate sexual stereotypes society needs to understand the minority of women do not represent the majority. Unfortunately, reality and fantasy become blurred leaving many to make unethical assumptions about women and how they should be treated and who they really are. No women married or otherwise is property or possession. I have read of cases where people say "how can it be rape if she
Sexual assault is defined as any vaginal, oral, or anal penetration that is forced upon another, regardless of sex and sexual orientation, using any object or body part. The issue of sexual assault in America is primarily encouraged by rape culture. Women Against Violence Against Women is an organization that defines rape culture as a complex set of beliefs that encourage male sexual aggression and supports violence against women. The acceptance of rape culture, rape myths, and the disregard for sexual consent also allow for the perpetuation of sexual assault against women on college campuses. Recent examples of sexual assault on college campuses show how prominent this issue has become and how hostile campuses have become for female students. Some examples include the University of Southern California’s “Gullet Report,” Miami University of Ohio’s “Top Ten Ways to Get Away with Rape,” and a sexual assault on the campus of Kansas University. Sexual assault is perpetuated by the acceptance of rape myths and rape culture, lack of effective sexual education, and the disregard for consent. The solution to this issue lies with defeating rape culture, increasing awareness and funding for campus sexual assault crisis centers, and enacting more prevention programs on campus.
Rape culture, which was coined as a culture during the second wave of feminism during the early 1970’s and was, according to the encyclopedia of rape, “often used by feminists to describe contemporary American culture as a whole.” Rape culture, by definition though, is “a culture in which rape and other sexual violence (usually against women and gender diverse peoples ) are common
Sexual abuse and assault on college campuses has been a rising issue dating back to the late 1950s. According to The United States Department of Justice, sexual assault is defined as “any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient. Falling under the definition of sexual assault are sexual activities as forced sexual intercourse, forcible sodomy, child molestation, incest, fondling, and attempted rape.” Sexual assault has long lasting effects that go way beyond the immediate trauma that victims experience in the beginning, including pregnancy, transmitted diseases, anxiety, PTSD, depression, etc. Multiple studies and statistics have shown that not only will “approximately 20% female students
Sexual assault on college campuses is a subject that comes up commonly in media today, usually due to the fact that these assaults happen on a regular basis. About one in four women and one in seven men are victims of some form of sexual violence during their college experience (Abooali). In most occurances when speaking about sexual assault on campus, people are talking about what the main cause of these cases of sexual assault could be, and if there is any way to prevent it from happening. There are many factors that play into these sexual assaults such as alcohol consumption, peer pressure, society's normalization of these assaults, and party culture.
On college campuses, students have different events and parties to celebrate accomplishments that have been made, and some colleges may even have sororities that throw annual parties for specific occasions. Students are given freedoms that were uncommon to when they were in high school; consequently, scholars are not aware of the dangers that may arise in the world. A show starred on Music Television (MTV), Sweet/Vicious, explains the emotional distress and changes that females may go through after being assaulted. Although some people may believe that females ask for what happens to them, this is not accurate in all cases. Additionally, women are not the only people to be affected by sexual assault, but the majority of the cases are females. Colleges need to value reports of sexual assault and be aware of the actions that happen on campuses to discontinue the amount of ladies who are drugged, hazed, and mentally or emotionally devastated on school grounds.
Our group of researchers decided to conduct a study in order to gather information on the rise of sexual assault allegations. We were interested in concluding whether or not the rise of sexual assault allegations in the media tested the validity regarding those accusations. Since Penn State has been exposed to a number of sexual assault scandals in the past few years, Penn State students were an ideal focus group because most students are familiar with our subject. With our phenomenon being a sensitive topic for a handful of our subjects, we decided to conduct a study in which all of our subjects could remain anonymous. Thus, we created a survey composed of nine questions, keeping in mind that this topic can be triggering for
A weakness in Maedl article was that the number of women interviewed was a few women, only twenty-five women at the Panzi hospital. The author does mention why they are interviewing such a small number when the author mentions a higher number of reported rape cases. If the number of women interview is small it could be hard for the reader to visualize the actual severity of women experiencing rape with the percentages given. With a larger number of women interviewed, there could be more diverse statements taken from the women and a pattern could be seen in the responses. This would then result in some clarity around the large number of women who have registered as rape victims in the DRC. I also thought that the author should expand her qualifications
This essay explores the ongoing issue of sexual assault and sexual violence on college campuses across the United States. Education on the topic of sexuality and sexual assault throughout secondary and post secondary education is vital to the awareness of, and battle against sexual assault. Issues in sex-education, included lack of depth into healthy sexuality, and abstinence only sex education. Women are not reporting their cases to the authorities or universities because of issues with privacy, shame and guilt. Universities are not providing reliable support to victims, which creates wide spread apprehension to report cases of sexual assault. Pop culture and media promote a skewed image of sexualized women, creating a cultural expectation for women to please and be subservient, promoting sexual violence against women across the country.
An article run by the school's newspaper, The East Carolinian, exposed the university for inappropriately handling student's cases. One victim revealed that during a group support session, the students were asked what they had been wearing when they were assaulted. It is this kind of approach that makes victims feel as though it is their fault and makes it less likely that students will feel like they can go to the university for